Let Dan Long be

Hello, hello! We don't know why you say goodbye, we say hello, but never mind. During August, FML will be providing you with artists sending us "second round" illustrations or comics: Sara Bloem, Tony Piro and Maxime Dupont.

Come together, right now, to welcome Dan Long that you may know thanks to his famous Lindsey and her original ringtone, that has rang out across the universe. It rang so much that it now gives us headaches, but thanks to Doctor Robert, we're so much better, here, there and everywhere. And now, we're going to start the interview, with a little help from my friends. When we first published Dan, he was a 27-year-old man, who had just started his webcomic. Now, Edmund Finney's Quest is one of the most successful webcomics on the Internet, and we're not afraid to say it's one of our favourites. What changed in a year? Edmund still hasn’t found the meaning of life, the people he meets are way stranger, his comic panels are bigger, and Dan's humor has been cranked up a notch.

One year after your first interview, we would like to know what are your current projects.

Dan Long : My main project is still my webcomic called “Edmund Finney’s Quest to Find the Meaning of Life” at http://eqcomics.com, but other projects include doing artwork for MAD Magazine, doing illustrations for fan-submitted sketch titles at http://eqcomics.tumblr.com, and working on random art projects in my free time that are just for me. I also enjoy writing short stories, which I haven’t done in a while, so I might get more into that soon.

What inspires you?

Dan Long : My main three comic inspirations are Bill Watterson (of Calvin & Hobbes), Berke Breathed (of Bloom County, Outland, and Opus), and Gary Larson (of The Far Side). Whenever I have writer’s block while brainstorming comics, flipping through some of their collections really helps inspire me and get the creative juices going. My main movie influence would be the Monty Python movies, specifically “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” I just love comedy based in a world of absurd strangers, and this movie hits that mark. Also, a little-known fact is that when I write Edmund Finney’s dialogue, his voice in my head is a British accent. As far as an artistic influence, I’d say both Tim Burton and Edward Gorey. I love dark, twisted art, and Burton and Gorey do it perfectly. I’ve had several readers compare my artwork to Edward Gorey, and though I don’t agree that my artwork is anywhere near Gorey’s quality, I couldn’t be more flattered by that compliment.

What makes you laugh the most?

Dan Long : I think one of the times when I laughed the hardest I ever have was watching “Monty Python and the Holy Grail.” Much of the movie is funny, but there’s the particular scene where Sir Lancelot storms a castle to save a prince (that he thought was a princess). I think I had to stop the movie and catch my breath after that scene. You’ll have to see it if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Other than that, I love stand-up comedy. I like the clever kind, like Mitch Hedburg and Brian Regan, not the crude kind with sex and drug jokes and lots of cursing. I just think crude humor is too simple and just gets cheap laughs. So a lot of today’s stand-up comedy doesn’t make me laugh as much as it used to because there’s more and more crude humor comics out there.

Why made you want to draw another FML, and why did you choose this FML story

Dan Long : I love illustrating ideas in general, which is why I set up my tumblr page at http://eqcomics.tumblr.com where my readers can submit sketch titles and I pick random ones out of the batch and draw them. I think it helps with my creativity to think outside of my own brain and work on something I wouldn’t have thought of myself. FMyLife is perfect for that, since they are real anecdotes and they are fun to twist around into something even more absurd.??

Do you have your own FML anecdote that you can share us?

Dan Long : Yes. I got a new car, and within 5 months it had been hit by 6 different people, all while it was parked outside at various locations, and each of them drove off. I just came back to a new dent in my car each time. FML

Well, maybe they’d ingested too much Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds. Oh, and we would like to explain to the FML audience why there were so many Beatles references in this article: Dan Long is Paul McCartney's look-alike. P.S: we love you Dan.

If you want to be the next published artist, send an email to [email protected] including a link to your website/blog. If you don't have one, attach some of your drawings. But DON'T send your illustration right away! You need first to get in touch with Alice, (who would like to take this opportunity to tell you that Paul McCartney is going to take part in Glee, which probably means the end of art and culture as we know it), who will tell you what you have to do!